Baby Photos using Canon EOS 500D

I have taken my words seriously and started to take photos of naked Cedric but somehow I just have the bunny hat. By following the instruction on the photography magizine, I took some of the shots and realise that lighting is the key in a good photo. As a good photographer, you must know when and how to control your camera. If the lighting is no good, you have to control the +1 and -1 settings. Not sure what that is called. I have to figure it out very soon. Anyway, the outcome of the trial:

#1 attempt:

#2 attempt:


Conclusion:

Somehow the experimental shootings are really full of obstacles as you can see first photo was not clear - a bit blur while the second one the lighting control is poor and result in overexposed effect at the bunny hat area and Cedric looks tanned in the photo.

Another 2 last pieces of work:

This is another piece of work that I have edited and apply the vigenitting effect and the sepia tone on the photo. I really think that not all photo suitable to apply the sepia tone but somehow I find this photo still "mian chiang" can make into sepia tone:

Still a lot more to improve on the photography and I really hope when the days pass by, I really can have more passion in photography and making use of this skills on useful area.

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Finally, I have figured out what is the +1 and -1 setting on my DSLR camera:

Exposure Compensation

"Exposure Compensation is a feature on a digital camera that allows you to adjust the shutter speed measured by its light meter. Usually, the range of adjustment goes from +2 to -2 EV in 1/3 steps.
Lets say that you point the camera at you subject and the meter says you need 1/250 sec. shutter speed at aperture 5.
If for whatever reason you select +1 exposure compensation, the shutter speed used by the camera will be 1/125 sec.
If you use -1 exposure compensation, the shutter speed will be 1/500 sec.
Every increment in exposure compensation (+2 +1 -1 -2) increases or decreases the amount of light going through the camera by a factor of 2. "

Baby photography using Natural Light

Been reading an article on how to capture baby photos in a low light condition. These are what I quoted from the article:

"I've seen enough photos of babies to know that keeping the style and approach simple is the only way to go. Pictures of babies dolled up in a fancy outfit or sitting in some elaborate setting can look too cheesy for my tastes.
It's the same with the lighting. You don't need to use studio lights or even on-camera flash to light the baby. Natural light is all you need, a couple of sheets and perhaps a simple reflector to balance the light back in a little. After that, it's all down to your camera and baby-entertaining skills to capture a set of photographs that the baby's parents are going to love..."

The Canon 50mm f1.8 lense is what I need to capture in low light condition and it is perfectly ideal for capturing baby portrait. I have bought it a few month ago at the cost of 100 plus dollars.

I found that some accessories do make baby looks cuter and sweet and therefore I got a bunny hat from singapore motherhood forum at 9 dollars. Tried out taking a few shoots by dressing Cedric in a red romper and the bunny hat:

I believe babies are the most expressive creatures in the world. My son, Cedric can show us all kind of faces in a day. Seeing is believing. From the photo taken, I can simply use a few adjectives to describe him: funny, innocent, angry, cool and etc. All in all, this is the photo I prefer most among those photos taken:

Hehe...He is showing the face as if he is being tortured. My next plan will be make him naked and put him on tummy while wearing the bunny hat.

Baby Cedric's Portrait

I have been capturing my son, Cedric photo since he was given birth on 8th September 2009. People tend to ask me "Why always head? Not full body photo." To me, portrait means head to shoulder and why I always think that baby head is the main part in an infant that is going through "massive" changes during their first year. Unlike toddler, infant can only lie on bed and greatest will be able to flip over and lift up their head in the first 6 months. Thus, I have capture baby Cedric photo using my Canon 50mm f1.8 lense. See how great he looks after I modified using an opensource software: What do you think of the effect I applied on the portrait?

Today, I am trying out the software again and come out with another portrait for Cedric which was taken a month back when my mother and sister came to Singapore to visit us. Back then, he was still with nice hair and he was about 3 months 3 weeks old:

Our First Trial - Outdoor Photography

We have our first trial of outdoor photography using Canon EOS 500D and our model is our daughter, Valencia. See some of the shots taken:

Valencia is having his pockey stick:

Little girl under the tree with yakult drink:


Little girl is looking up into the blue blue sky: